On April 14, Anxi, a hometown of overseas Chinese, held a symposium to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Mr. Li Shangda. Photo by Liu Boyi
The unveiling ceremony of the bronze statue of Li Shangda and his wife was held on the 14th. Photo by Liu Boyi
Representatives from all walks of life in Quanzhou and Anxi presented flowers to the bronze statue of Mr. Li Shangda. Photo by Liu Boyi
Anxi, Fujian, 14 Apr (Xinhua) -- On 14 April, Anxi County, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, a famous hometown of overseas Chinese, held a symposium to commemorate the centenary of Mr. Li Shangda's birth, and connected two overseas venues in Singapore and Indonesia on the spot to jointly commemorate Mr. Shangda's spirit of love for his homeland and benefiting Sangzi.
As well-known social activists, philanthropists and industrialists in Southeast Asia, Mr. Li Shangda and his brother Mr. Li Luda are the first batch of outstanding representatives of overseas Chinese who returned to China after the reform and opening up to donate funds to their hometowns to set up public welfare undertakings. In the 23 years from his first return to his hometown in 1985 to his death in 2008, Mr. Li Shangda donated more than RMB150 million in China and was awarded three times by Fujian Province.
"Mr. Li Shangda has devoted his life to making great contributions to the construction of his hometown and the development of public welfare undertakings." Lin Wanming, member of the Standing Committee of the Quanzhou Municipal CPC Committee and director of the United Front Work Department, said so.
"In his life, the greatest feeling and the greatest pleasure is to help his hometown embark on the road to prosperity as soon as possible and live a good life." When recalling Mr. Li Shangda, Li Jianguo, the former mayor of Quanzhou City, said that in the 1980s, Anxi was still a poverty-stricken county in the country, and in order to help his hometown get rid of the poverty situation, Mr. Li returned to his hometown several times a year, stayed for a few months, paid money, came up with ideas, and worked hard to crack the problems of tea exports, traffic blockages, and schools.
"Mr. Li Shangda's spirit and feelings have inspired generations of Anxi people to forge ahead." Gao Xiangrong, secretary of the Anxi County CPC Committee, said that what can be comforted is that Anxi has completed the task of poverty alleviation in the new era with high quality as scheduled, and all poor villages and poor households have been lifted out of poverty; Anxi's high-quality and balanced and coordinated development of education has been rated as a county with basic balance in the development of compulsory education in the country, and it is accelerating the creation of a provincial-level education strong county; Anxi's medical care, pension and other people's livelihood social undertakings have made great strides forward, the people's lives are rich and healthy, and the happiness index of the masses has been significantly improved.
In his hometown of Hutou Town, mr. Li Shangda and his family donated schools, parks, hospitals and other social welfare facilities have become a beautiful scenery for overseas Chinese. In addition, Many colleges and universities, such as Xiamen University, Jimei University, Huaqiao University, and Liming Vocational University, have also left stories and contributions donated by Mr. Li Shangda.
Li Qingbiao, president of Jimei University, told reporters that as an outstanding student of Mr. Chen Jiageng, a famous patriotic overseas Chinese leader, Mr. Shang Da has followed in the footsteps of Mr. Jiageng all his life. "We miss Mr. Li Shangda not only because he worked hard for the establishment and running of Jimei University, nor because he generously donated funds to the development of Jimei University because of his frugal life, but more importantly, he carried forward the spirit of Jiageng." The spirit of Jiageng and the feelings of Shangda have become the precious spiritual wealth of Jimei University. ”
"My father only did some things for his hometown and society before he died, and he fulfilled his social responsibility, and we were very touched by people's deep feelings for him." Through the on-site connection, Li Chuanyu, the son of Mr. Li Shangda, said that his father's deeds of poverty alleviation, bridge construction, education, and happy education, as well as the love of people and the true feelings of his hometown, are the biggest spiritual wealth of our family. "Our whole family and Shangda Group will unswervingly inherit and carry forward the spirit of Shangda and make more contributions to social development and progress."
It is understood that after the death of Mr. Li Shangda, his children established the Li Shangda Charity Foundation in Hong Kong, and his sons Li Chuanyu and Li Longyu followed their father's teachings and continued to care for and support the development of various public welfare undertakings such as education, culture and sports, transportation, and pensions in their hometown.
Since 2009, Li Chuanyu and Li Longyu Kunzhong have donated funds to build Cishan School, supported the development of Anxi Chongde Middle School and Junmin Middle School and the renovation of Cishan Agricultural School, set up Hutou Longxi Li Education Fund and Shangdong Elderly Welfare Fund, and built a new Hutou Shangda Park and Shangda Road. (End)
Source: China News Network